A SENIOR Labour official has revealed how party leaders repeatedly tried to heal the rift with breakaway councillors, which left Blackburn with Darwen Council in turmoil.

Phil Riley, secretary of the constituency Labour Party and a close friend of MP Jack Straw, insisted a decision not to allow one of the six councillors back on to Blackburn with Darwen Council's ruling executive board was to blame for the defections.

And for the first time he has admitted there were concerns raised about the way some Labour candidates canvassed in the run-up to the election on June 10, sparking the break-up of the ruling group.

However, Mr Riley denied accusations were levelled at the six breakaway councillors who are set to form a controlling alliance with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats at a full council meeting on July 1, ousting Labour for the first time in 21 years.

That alliance seemed agreed yesterday but today it was revealed that the six independents will meet on Tuesday to formally back the move.

Mahfooz Hussain (Bastwell), Salim Mulla (Queen's Park), Faryad Hussain (Queen's Park), Yusuf Jan-Virmani (Audley), Iftakhar Hussain (Bastwell) and Parwaiz Akhtar (Bastwell) claimed they walked because they felt as though some blamed them for former leader Sir Bill Taylor's failure to hold on to his Audley seat.

Mr Riley said: "The clear wish of the people was that the Labour-controlled council should continue in power.

"Coun Mahfooz Hussain and his colleagues took part in a campaign planning meetings; they used the same Labour Party literature as every other ward and at no stage during the campaign did they ever suggest any concern about the direction and objectives of that campaign. Immediately after the results were announced the process of selecting executive members and other positions of authority within the council began.

"Concern was expressed about some councillors in the previous year and it was decided to recommend that Coun Mahfooz Hussain should not be offered an executive member position (education).

"Concern was also expressed about the party's candidates in some wards, particularly those wards where some candidates had been successful and others had not. This was done in a professional and comradely fashion."

"Despite a number of attempts at conciliation the six have continued down the path of separation, resulting in the Labour group being unable to carry out the mandate they received from the electorate.

"We are proud of the positive community relations in the town and of our part in that development and we will continue in that role whether we are in control of the council or, temporarily, in opposition."

None of the six independents were available to comment.